According to a new Human Rights Campaign report released on Wednesday, at least 32 transgender and gender non-conforming people have been killed since the beginning of the year.
The report shows that the number of transgender and gender non-conforming people killed in the last decade is at least 302. The number goes back to 2013, when the FBI first began reporting hate crimes motivated by anti-transgender bias.
According to the annual report, more than 85% of victims tracked by the group since 2013 have been people of color. In total, 69% were Black, and 15% were Latino. It also found that 77% were under the age of 35%.
The report also found similar shocking statistics, including 40% of cases still not having a known killer and 65% of cases involving a killer who knew the victims. 20% were killed by their intimate partner and 10% were killed by a friend or member of their family.
When it comes to how the murders occur, at least two-thirds of them recorded since 2013 involved a firearm, according to the report.
But the HRC report isn’t the only one to show an increase in violent murders of transgender people, as Everytown for Gun Safety found that the number of transgender people killed over the last four years has almost doubled.
Tori Cooper, the director of community engagement at the HRC’s Transgender Justice Initiative, spoke with The Hill about the report released during this year’s Transgender Awareness Week.
“Ten years and over three hundred deaths that we know of is a grim milestone,” Cooper said. “I call on transgender people everywhere and our allies to respond to this dark moment by advocating anywhere and everywhere, to whomever will listen, in support of our lived & legal equality — and, most importantly, our lives. We will honor their lives and their memories with action.”
Attacks against the transgender community have increased this year, according to the report. In September, Boston Children’s Hospital was forced into lock down after receiving an anonymous bomb threat. The hospital has the nation’s first pediatric and adolescent transgender health program.
Other hospitals have also faced similar threats, and Shoshana Goldberg, the HRC Foundation’s director of public education and research, told The Hill that what they’ve seen is unprecedented.
“This year saw unprecedented amounts of negative rhetoric and stigma aimed by anti-equality political leaders and public figures at transgender and non-binary people, as well as their families, loved ones, and even their medical providers,” Goldberg said. “You can’t separate that from the horrific, ongoing violence against transgender people.”
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